


Two To Tango

by 10MonthDay (AwwKeyboardNo)



Series: It Could Have Been Then (HA! Episode Remixes) [1]
Category: Hey Arnold!
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 04:20:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11305551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwwKeyboardNo/pseuds/10MonthDay
Summary: In which there is a little more to Helga and Phoebe's conversation at the April Fool's Dance.





	Two To Tango

**Author's Note:**

> I know the title is dumb.  
> Just a little blip of a story divergent, because I thought it was terribly convenient that they didn't once bring up the -other- reason that Helga would pretend to be blind. I dunno why I'm even posting this heh.  
> Not beta-read.

Gerald rather liked how his April Fools was turning out. He hadn’t been pranked _too_ horribly throughout the day—the worst had been a pie to the face, he thought with a bit of amusement. And now, he was with Phoebe at the dance! He liked dancing with Phoebe. It was fun, and he was having a really great time.

He wished the same could be said for his best friend.

Arnold was _not_ having a good time, as far as Gerald could tell. Helga was pretty clearly driving him bananas.

He didn’t mention this observation to Phoebe, who frowned rather disapprovingly when he ragged on Helga.

It made sense, he supposed. They _were_ best friends and all. Though Gerald had absolutely no clue how someone as sweet as Phoebe could end up friends with someone like Helga _G._ Pataki.

The song he and Phoebe were dancing to ended. And Phoebe excused herself to the ladies room, in her soft cute Phoebe voice.

Gerald took this time to _also_ make a detour to the bathroom. He’d had a bit too much punch.

He hadn’t been in the bathroom for long, before he realized that the vent above his head led to the girl’s bathroom. And there were voices coming from it. Familiar ones.

“Helga! I-is your eyesight returning?”

Hey! If Helga wasn’t blind anymore, maybe she’d finally leave Arnold alone. This thought filled Gerald with a bit of relief for his friend…which was promptly erased by Helga’s next words.

“I’m not blind, I can see everything. And I can especially see Arnold falling for the greatest April Fool’s joke in history. I totally have him fooled, the fool. He’s the one who’s blind!”

Helga wasn’t blind. _Helga_ wasn’t _blind_ . _Helga wasn’t blind_.

Gerald could’ve punched something. That lying, conniving, no good, evil little—

Oh, she was most definitely going to pay.

“Wow Helga I’m actually impressed,” Phoebe said with a giggle.

He was about to go straight to Arnold and tell him what he’d just heard; no doubt it would rile up the normally mild-mannered kid enough that Gerald could convince him to get some revenge.

Before he could do that, however, Helga and Phoebe continued to talk.

“Helga,” Phoebe began, still giggling. “Please don’t mind my asking, but…is this _just_ to get back at Arnold?”

What could that mean? Gerald listened closely, intrigued.

“I-I don’t know what you mean Pheebs,” Helga stuttered, suddenly nervous. She clearly understood exactly what was being alluded to, even if Gerald had no clue.

“Perhaps, this is another attempt to get some attention from, um, ‘Ice Cream’,” Phoebe offered, seeming to be half nervous at stepping  over some invisible line, and half coy, over whatever the heck she was talking about.

“First of all Pheebs, please _refrain_ from using Arnold’s code name, you never know who might be listening.”

Like a certain tall hair boy, though Helga didn’t know.

Now Gerald was really absorbed into what was going on. Arnold had a code name, and Helga was using her fake blindness to get _attention_ from him. None of this was making sense to the poor boy.

“Second of all…well…I guess I might be…”

The hesitant tone was drawing him in further. Seriously, if he didn’t know better, he might actually think that—

“Because you love him,” Phoebe said softly, he barely heard it.

It took a few moments for Gerald’s brain to catch up to this thought.

What.

Gerald...he _had_ to of been hearing things, right? There was no way on God’s green earth that Helga _G._ Pataki was crushin on Arnold. It just wasn’t possible.

it had to be a prank. It just _had_ to be!

It was…..right?

“Phoebe, you can’t just say it out loud like that!” Helga said. Her voice was both flustered and terrified.

“My apologies, Helga,” Phoebe said, sighing and sounding the slightest touch exasperated. “Although, have you given any thoughts as to if you might….try to confess to him again?”

“Nope. Not a bit. No thoughts of such matter have passed through my noggin.” The fluster was even more prominent. “And it’s especially not going to happen tonight—he’d….he would think it was a prank…I don’t think I could stomach that thought Phoebe…” Her voice was quieter now, sadder.

“I suppose so.”

“Anyway, mum’s the word. Got it?”

Phoebe hummed. “Mumming!”

With that the two girls left. Leaving behind Gerald, who wasn’t sure if wanted to laugh himself silly or faint from the shock.

In the end though, the laughing won out. Even if he kept the laughing fit as quick and quiet as possible.

Because, _come on_ , anyone would have to admit—Helga having a crush on Arnold— _heck,_ maybe even _loving_ him, was honestly a joke no one could hope to top. Even if it _was_ true.

…

Hold on, had Phoebe said that Helga had already confessed to Arnold at one point?

And Arnold hadn’t told _Gerald_ about it? He hadn’t had the thought to mention, ‘oh hey, my lifelong bully just told me she’s been ragging on me because she’s crushing on me’?

Well, once they were done with this mess, he was going to have a long conversation with his best friend about his sudden ability to keep secrets (and from _Gerald_ , no less. how did _that_ happen?).

He wasn’t going to focus on that just yet though. Because even if Helga _had_ done what she’d done out of some kooky want for attention, it was still a rather cruel prank. Which meant Arnold needed to get back at her for it.

Now for Gerald to convince him.

In the end, it was…almost alarmingly easy to nudge him in that direction.

“I had a feeling she was lying about hating me.” And there was an almost _amused_ smile on Arnold face, though it clashed oddly with the way he crushed his cup in anger.

“Speakin’ of _that_ ,” Gerald said, letting his annoyance at his friend seep into his voice. “Is there _something_ you might have forgotten to _mention_ to me?”

Arnold gave a quiet and nervous laugh. “W-well, there’s just been so much happening lately, it just must have slipped my mind….”

Gerald gave him an unamused look. “Mmm- _hmmm_.”

Arnold sighed. His ears were pink. “A-anyway, you said I should give her a taste of her own medicine, r-right?”

It was not the most graceful conversation segue, but Gerald decided to give him some slack. “Right, so here’s what I was thinking we should do….”

Gerald’s plan (one that might have been inspired by a certain Christmas movie that he’d seen far too many times) was brilliant, if he did say so himself. The only hitch in the plan was that Arnold would once again have to dance with Helga.

“You gonna be okay with that?” Gerald asked in some concern. “Dancing with that girl knowing she’s crushing bad and you don’t feel the same way?”

There was a moment of silence.

“You _don’t_ like her back, do you?” Gerald said, raising an eyebrow at the ridiculous thought.

More silence. Then Arnold cleared his throat.

“So, I’ll be fine with dancing, don’t worry about me,” he said, throwing his crumpled cup in the little garbage can by the punch. He wasn’t meeting his friend’s eyes, and his pink ears had become bright red. “You just focus on your part of the plan.”

At just that moment, Simmons announced the start of the tango. Arnold took the opportunity the walk quickly towards Phoebe and Helga (both of whom were giggling, likely about Arnold himself) and away from his conversation.

Gerald followed after him at a brisk pace. “You didn’t answer me,” he hissed towards his friend.

His friend didn’t acknowledge that he’d heard the whisper. Indeed, the boy wasn’t sure what his answer _would have_ been. He moved over to Helga and put a hand on his shoulder. The girl tensed slightly at the touch, but immediately relaxed a moment later.

“There you are Helga,” Arnold said, making sure to sound cheerful (and not the least bit annoyed, or embarrassed, or confused--or any of the number of emotions he _was_ currently feeling). “Just in time for the tango.”

Helga held out a hand. In the dim lighting, Arnold could just make out a faint blush on her face and the momentary flash of a pleased expression on her face. “Well…bring it on Football Head—let’s cut a rug.”

Arnold took her hand—ignoring the sudden eruption of stomach butterflies at the contact. He didn’t want to get distracted from the main reason they were dancing. He _wouldn’t_ be.

He pulled Helga smoothly onto the dancefloor, then immediately snapping her close to his body to start the tango. His own steps were quick and practiced (somewhere in the back of his mind, he was thanking his grandma for teaching him tango). Helga, on the other hand, was having trouble keeping up with Arnold’s movement. He didn’t slow to match her pace. Then, just to throw her off, he swung her out quickly before pulling her back with a sharp tug. Now they were nose to nose, and Arnold was able to observe the utter fluster on Helga G. Pataki’s face. It was….nice.

He fought not to smirk. “It must be strange, not being able to see anything.” His eyes narrowed. “ _Anything at all_.”

She wasn’t even able to keep up the blank stare, her eyes looking everywhere but at him. “I—it is….It’s very str—”

Arnold dipped her lowly, losing the fight to not smirk.

Helga’s voice took on genuine surprise (and maybe….slight panic?). “A-Arnold, you’re being kinda rough.”

He was _full-on_ smirking now, allowing the dip to go just a bit lower. He stared deeply into her eyes. They were wide and slightly wild and the _deepest_ blue he had ever seen. “Don’t worry my dear _blind_ friend….you’re in _good_ hands.” He finally lifted her out of the dip and set back to the quick pace of his feet. He could just barely hear her breath catch as she whispered.

“ _D--d-dear?_ ”

He swallowed a low chuckle. Behind them, the floor began to open up to reveal the pool. But with her as distracted as she most definitely was, she didn’t hear the commotion. “Helga...there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.” He paused. “Well, more than one thing….but we’ll talk about those later.”

 _The next day_ , if he could. Any real conversations to be had were best not to happen on April Fool’s, or they’d been taken as jokes.

He snapped her out in another rough swing and then brought her back in, colliding slightly with his chest.

But, Helga seemed to have finally regained her equilibrium and was matching his smirk. “Is there? Well, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you, too!” To his surprise, she swung him out like he’d been doing to her. He bumped into Sheena with the force of his swing. The poor bystander let out a squeak of pain, before frowning severely at both of them.

Arnold glared at Helga before smothering it with an even sharper smirk. He immediately pulled her back towards him. Unlike before, Helga seemed to take this in stride, matching his feet and putting her hand on his lower back (a bit _too_ low if one were to ask Arnold). He swallowed a nervous cough and forced voice to remain steady. “Yeah…I’ve just been waiting…waiting for the _right moment_.”

“So have I.” The smugness in Helga’s voice made what was coming next all the more sweeter to Arnold.

The moment came. Mr. Simmons’ voice rung cheerfully out. “—And our first _ever_ King of Fools is—”

Helga pulled out of their dance, tossing off her glasses to grin widely. “— _You, Arnold_.”

Arnold smiled in dark amusement, pulling her back into his arms and dipping her lowly for good measure. “Actually, it’s _you_ Helga.” And with that declaration made, Arnold spun her straight into the waiting waters of the pool. “April Fools!”

As Simmons declared the _actual_ King of Fools, Arnold walked over to the edge, Gerald joining him on the way there to give him a high five. They shared a grin before Arnold turned to look down at Helga, who was glaring up at him.

“Joke’s on _you_ this time Helga,” Arnold told her. “I know you’re not blind.”

“Not to mention,” Gerald cut in with a grin, “we both know that the reason you did it is—”

Arnold and Phoebe (who had appeared in the intervening moments) shushed him simultaneously.

Helga frowned at them, not quite getting what they meant (for once, _she_ was the dense one). Finally, she rolled her eyes. “Alright, _you_ win. The least you could do is get me out of here.”

Arnold felt the beginnings of guilt building up in his chest. It…it had been a little _much_ , he supposed. So, he reached out to take her hand—

—and she pulled him into the pool alongside her.

Any feelings of guilt washed away as he sputtered water.

Helga laughed. “Got’cha again Football head.”

And, as she continued to laugh, Arnold…couldn’t find it in him to be mad at her. The stomach butterflies had decided to make a home where they were. He gave her a half lidded smile. “Yeah, you’ve definitely _got me_.”

She raised a brow and opened her mouth to question his statement, when all the other students decided to join them in the pool. The moment was lost to a good amount of splashing.

 _Much_ later, as Helga, Arnold, Gerald, and Phoebe left the YMAA (having had to stay behind to help clean up), Helga started in on the two boys.

“So, whose bright idea was the pool,” she asked, amusement and annoyance (and perhaps a touch of _admiration?_ ) warring on her face.

“Oh, that was all Gerald,” Arnold told her.

Helga turned to smirk at Gerald. “Watch a lotta ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, huh Tall Hair Boy?”

Gerald blushed a little. “It’s a Christmas tradition,” he muttered.

Phoebe put a hand on his arm and gave him a sweet smile. “It sounds like a good tradition to me.”

He smiled back at her but turned to glare at Helga. “So, how long you been crushing on Arnold?”

“ _Gerald_ ,” Arnold and Phoebe admonished him simultaneously.

Helga spun to glare furiously at Arnold. “YOU _TOLD HIM_?!”

Arnold put up his hands and took a few steps back. “I swear I didn’t.” He took a few more steps away from her. “He…he overheard the two’a you talking. and…and, well…”

“Helga, my apologies,” Phoebe blurted. “If I had left well enough alone—”

“—oh can it Pheebs, I’m not mad at _you_.” Helga heaved a heavy sigh and turned to look at the boys. Gerald gulped.

Helga sighed again and put a hand to her head. “You know what, I’m too tired to be mad at you two dingbats either.” She looked down at her dress, which was still soggy and smelling of chlorine. She frowned and shook her head. “Why don’t the two of you just forget you heard anything other than me once again proving what a conniving bully I am. Then we can all go home in peace.”

Gerald shrugged. “If that’s what you want, that’s more than fine with me.”

Arnold frowned. “No.”

Helga turned to stare at him. “What?”

He crossed his arms. “I don’t want to forget. Not this time, Helga.”

She was beginning to look less tired and more desperate. “C-can’t we just agree again that I said some things in the heat of the—”

“ _NO_!” Arnold said again. This time it was a shout, and he turned to fully face her. “I’m not writing this off as heat of the moment! Not again!”

“...Arnold, I…” She looked away from him, seeming almost near tears. Off to the side, Phoebe tugged on Gerald’s arm.

“Let’s leave them to talk,” she murmured. “Would you walk me home?”

“Uh…” Gerald looked to his friend, who was staring intensely at Helga. Gerald shrugged. “Okay, sound fine to me.” He offered Phoebe his arm and she took it.

Arnold and Helga didn’t notice them leaving.

“....Arnold, even if _you_ don’t want to forget that I spilled my guts about l-l-loving you, maybe _I_ want to.” Helga’s voice was beginning to wobble, giving in to a few tears.

Arnold blinked. “What, why?”

She looked him in the eye. “Because you’re never going to love me back! And you bugging me about it just makes that more and more freaking _painful_.”

Arnold’s face fell. “Helga….”

She gave a watery laugh. “Honestly, I can’t really blame you for it….who’d ever _want_ to love a person like me….?”

“I could.”

Helga whipped her head up to stare at him. “ _Huh?!_ ”

Arnold looked down, fidgeting with his tie. His ears were pink again. “I—I _could_ love you.” He looked back up, face serious. “I mean, I already consider you a friend and care about you…and…and ever since you told me how you…how you feel, I’ve been thinking about you even more than usual…A-and not in an ‘you bug me’ kind of way…”

Helga’s face was turning the reddest it had ever been. There was a brief hopeful look in her eyes that was quickly clouded over in wary sadness. “I’m…I’m…” Her eyes welled over. “I-if this is a _prank_ Arnoldo, it’s n-not funny.”

Arnold held up his hands. “It’s not a prank, I swear! Look!” He pulled out his pocket watch and showed it to her. It was past midnight. “I would _never_ do that to you, Helga. Not about _this._ ”

“So…So…” Helga’s face had lost all of it’s pink and faded to chalk white. She looked faint and began to wobble. Arnold immediately reached out to steady her. She blinked, trying to focus on his face. “So, you…you…”

Arnold pulled one of his hands away from her to rub at the back of his neck. “I think I like-like you Helga.”

It wasn’t an outright declaration of love pulled straight from the movies. It wasn’t anything close to Helga’s own confession, and it probably wasn’t like Helga had dreamed it to be. However, the bright, dazzled smile that was beginning to form on her face made it quite clear that she didn’t mind in the least.

Arnold held out a hand, and Helga laced her fingers with his. “Can I walk you home?” he asked her.

Helga was beaming, and it was beautiful. “I would love you to.” Her voice was airy.

He smiled back at her as they began walking. “And maybe we could go to Slauson’s tomorrow afternoon, after practice?”

Her lip wobbled and her gaze was starry-eyed. “That would be perfect.”

“Great!” He squeezed her hand gently. “It’s a date then!”

Arnold once again had to stop her from fainting in happiness.

It was a good night.


End file.
